Assam Cabinet decides to de-notify prime rhino habitat

Assam Cabinet decides to de-notify Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, sparking controversy over rhino habitat protection.

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a safari at the Kaziranga National Park, the Assam Cabinet on March 10 decided to de-notify another prime one-horned rhino habitat – the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary about 48km east of Guwahati.

Environment activists said the decision, taken 26 years after the Assam Forest Department notified Pobitora as a wildlife sanctuary on March 17, 1998, is the first of its kind for any protected area in the country.

The Assam government followed it up with a petition in the Supreme Court on March 12 seeking relief from demarcating the boundary of the 38.8sqkm sanctuary, removing encroachments and illegal activities within, and declaring an eco-sensitive zone around it.

Confirming the development, a senior forest officer said the Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took the decision as the 1998 notification was made without placing the matter before the Cabinet and the Chief Minister then.

The minutes of the meeting, attached with the petition before the apex court said the Forest Department has no jurisdiction over the government-owned khas (fallow) land which was included in the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary.

“The rights of the affected people were not fully settled, especially people residing in the area prior to the issuance of the notification of the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in 1998, including people belonging to deprived and marginalised sections of the society such as SC, ST, OBC, etc.,” the minutes read.

The Cabinet note cited periodic patta (deed) land of three villages – Thengabhanga, No. 1 Murkata, and Raja Mayong – where people belonging to backward and marginalised communities were residing even before Independence.